Is Ryan Seacrest the next Simon Cowell?
When you’re already as successful as Ryan is, you shouldn’t be billed as ‘the next’ anyone, but a lot of people are talking about whether Ryan is going to replace Simon as a judge on American Idol.
Nigel addresses an important point in his response: Ryan is one of the best hosts around (the best in our opinion!), so if Ryan replaces Simon, the Idol producers still have a huge gap to fill.
On their website, TMZ wrote:
There is only one person who could replace Simon Cowell on “American Idol” … someone famous, someone critical, and someone with a penchant for tight clothing … someone like Ryan Seacrest.
TMZ is running a stack of polls about this. Only a third of people who voted would like to see Ryan switch to a judging role, with the idea of bringing Dunkleman back to host getting a resounding ‘no’ at just 20%. The intriguing suggestion of switching Ryan and Ellen has people undecided, currently it’s 52%-48% in Ryan’s favour, but there’s overwhelming support (83%) for going back to three judges. Whether people think the three existing judges could carry the panel is an issue they don’t address.
A huge 64% of people who voted said they would not watch the show without Simon, but as ratings and votes have dropped this season while Simon was still there, it seems that choosing the right contestants is more important than who replaces Simon. For whatever reason, it doesn’t feel as though people have engaged as much with this season’s contestants, but if the right ones make it through Hollywood and the early live stages next season, there’s no reason why the show won’t be just as popular as before, no matter who’s judging.
I have nothing against the idea of Ryan as a judge, but he’s already perfect as the host of American Idol and I don’t like the idea of him getting an unfair share of the blame if it’s another weak season. So many different celebrities have been rumoured to be in the frame to replace Simon, but as both recent additions to the judging panel have received a luke warm welcome, perhaps it’s time to try something entirely different.
As the judges have very little actual power once the live shows start, maybe it’s time to incentivise voting and viewing and make it a way for a member of the American public to win their way onto the panel for a week. That should get some people voting while others could rub their hands in glee thinking about what kind of crazy, unfiltered, loose cannon would win their way onto the judging panel this week. Would you watch?
